The Green Bay Packers reportedly has legitimate trade interest in Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor, who could be traded before the November 10 deadline as the Colts look to stack draft capital ahead of a rebuild.
The prospect of the Packers trading for Taylor is an intriguing one, but does it make sense? Let’s discuss the pros and cons.
The first and most obvious argument for a trade is that Taylor is a fantastic player. He racked up over 3,000 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns between the 2024 and 2025 seasons combined, and already has 587 rushing yards and eight scores so far this season.
Besides that, the uncertainty around Josh Jacobs’ future could be another motivating factor.
Jacobs is off the commissioner’s exempt list and has
played in Green Bay’s last two games, but the NFL’s investigation is still open and could be impacted by three more women coming forward and accusing him of physical abuse.
Taylor could serve as high-end insurance and a succession plan at the running back position. If Jacobs is not handed any additional punishment, he and Taylor would form a formidable duo in the backfield. If Jacobs does get suspended again, the Packers would be protected by having Taylor.
At this point it feels unlikely Jacobs is a Packer beyond this season. He will be 29 and Green Bay can save $13.5 million by moving on from him. Taylor would give them more of a long-term answer, as he is a year younger and is under contract for an additional year.
On the other hand, it is fair to question whether the Packers are realistically in a position to do this kind of trade and if it would solve anything.
The Colts are rumored to be holding out for a trade package similar to the one the Panthers received for Christian McCaffrey, who was dealt to the 49ers for a second, third, fourth and future fifth-round pick back in October of 2022.
It is worth noting he had turned 26 in June of that year, where Taylor will be 28 in January.
Green Bay is already without a first-round pick in 2027 due to the Micah Parsons trade. Can they really afford to give away their second-rounder and more?
Then there’s the salary cap implications. The Packers would take on around $5m of Taylor’s cap hit this year, $16m next year and $18 million in 2028 if they traded for him.
As things stand, Green Bay has $6.4 million in cap space this year but is projected to be nearly $7m over the cap in 2027. Even if they cut Jacobs they would only be around $6.5 million in the black. There are other moves they could make, but getting Taylor in under the cap would not be easy.
A trade would likely come with a contract extension, which could ease the cap issues early in the deal, but Brian Gutekunst has already committed a lot of money to a lot of players he expects to be the core of the roster in the next few years.
Paying Taylor into his 30s on a new extension would be a risk, as it is for any running back. They would essentially be betting he is Derrick Henry and will be the rare back who ages gracefully. Taylor has 2,647 carries under his belt since college, which is a lot of work.
Additionally, the Packers’ offensive line may not be good enough right now for Taylor to make much of a difference. The return of Jacobs to the lineup has not exactly jolted Green Bay’s limp run game into life.
A trade for Taylor would be exciting, and it could make sense to secure a high-end running back for the next few years during a Super Bowl window, but it may not solve anything or be a very responsible move for a team which is already heavily leveraged in terms of draft picks and cap space.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Should the Packers trade for Jonathan Taylor? The case for and against
